Queen Bee Knits

Knitting, Living, Loving, Baking, Tips, Tools and Idle Chatter

WIPs and Ice Out

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning we had ice from shore to shore except for a bit of water around the edges. It was raining again and the wind was blowing. I knew things were about to change, I just didn’t know how quickly they were going to change. it’s now 12:22pm and the ice is all gone from the lake but for a few “cubes” around the edge. It’s really amazing how the process of ice out happens. Today’s was the fastest change-over that we’ve experienced in our eight years here. Not long ago there were two big Bald Eagles out on the ice near our “sunken island” and then down across from the music camp. Now they’ve got nowhere to land.

While all this excitement has been happening outside, I’ve got a lot of WIPs inside. AND i may have added one more this week.

Oorik Tank Top by MaryJane Mucklestone in Jamieson & Smith 2-ply jumper weight

My Oorik vest is ready for steeking. Steeking (Muffin) is when you cut the knitted fabric to create an opening and in this case, the steek will open the arm holes and the v-neck. I’ve not ever steeked a garment before so I am really excited to do it. My friend and co-worker, Glenda, has knitted the same garment so we are going to get together and reinforce the steek before we cut it and then cut it. After that we will finish the ribbing on the arms and around the neck and they’ll be finished. Yippee! I got this yarn and pattern in 2017 before I had a child to knit for … some things take awhile but are so well timed! Stay tuned for pictures of the process.

Ruby Ray the Mega Ray in Loops & Thread Sweet Snuggles

I have finished the main part of the top of the mega ray that was requested by my daughter. It will be a very soft toy for Sylvie if this YaYa can get it finished. I am going to aim for that today but I also have a few things that I need to bake for the week so we’ll see how far I get. Next up is the head of the ray in the blue yarn and then the belly will be next with the cream colored yarn. I also have to find some safety eyes.

The other WIPs that I’ve been working on are as follows:

Fiddlehead Fern mittens: I’ve finished the first mitten and have cast on the second but haven’t gotten very far on the colorwork. This is a pattern that I have to think about (or I am apt to make mistakes) although once I get started, it’s likely to go very quickly. I love the way that the handspun yarn that my daughter gifted to me is working in this pattern. The solid color is some left-over Patagonia from another project. It’s truly a pleasure to work with these yarns and these mittens are so pretty. Now that it’s spring, I’ll probably not get a chance to wear them until next year … unless I gift them or sell them before that.

My daughter’s Christmas socks: I’ve put these aside several times because Christmas. I have some time, right? But socks are almost always on my needles and before I started the next WIP I’m going to talk about, I was thinking that I’d try to do another year of 12 pairs of socks in a year. I have a friend who’s doing 24 pairs of socks in 2024 … not sure I could or that I want to do that. Anyway, the pattern for the Christmas socks is Yankee Knitter #29 Classic Socks with a modified heel. I’m using the Crazy Sock Lady’s heel from the Hermione’s Everyday Socks pattern. The heel is sooooo pretty! I’ve completed the first sock and have cast on and started the 1×1 ribbing at the leg.

Last active WIP is the one I cast on on Friday (or was is Thursday night?) and that’s the Jelly Roll Blanket. I’m knitting this pattern with the modifications that the Crazy Sock Lady made, using 2 strands of fingering weight yarn held together for a DK weight yarn. I’m knitting on a US6 needle and I’m having trouble putting this one down. I started the second strip last night. I am using all odds and ends of fingering weight yarn that I’ve used in projects over the last 40 years and I’m (sort of) randomly pulling little balls out and either knitting until they’re gone OR for about eight inches. One of the strands will be the white/natural yarn that I bought when I thought I was going to try to dye yarn. Ha! Ha! That ship has sailed. This seemed like a way to unify all the bits and bobs AND use up some yarn that has no real purpose in my stash. This one may take years to complete or may be the only thing I work on over the next few weeks/months. Once the blanket is finished I think I’ll have enough yarn left to make a Sea Glass tee, too.

Not shown here are a couple of other projects that are in time out. I have a pair of pink mittens that need to be embroidered before they can be finished. I found the embroidery hard on my hands – the stabilizer with the pattern printed on it was tough to get the needle through – so it was set aside. I still want to make the mittens so I have to get the embroidery done. They’ll be beautiful.

I’ve also got a sweater that was begun and soon set aside. The pattern is the Three Seasons Cardigan. It’s an all over cabled cropped sweater. I may be lengthening it a bit … or not. I bought the yarn that was suggested because I loved the sample. I am making size 5 I believe and I know that I’ll love this sweater. I just have to commit to knitting it and I will. Soon.

I have a few other WIPS, too. Yes, I know there are a lot. I’m reminding myself here how many things I have going on at this point in time as much as anything. And for now, I’m going to head to my orange knitting chair and get started working on knocking the WIPs list down by one.

Gone knitting.

Adventure in Crochet

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

The other day my daughter forwarded this photo to me. It’s cute, right? Well, I found the pattern on Theresa’s Crochet Shop on Etsy and bought it … even though I really don’t crochet. Why? Because it’s utterly adorable, right!?

Despite the fact that I work in a yarn shop, we didn’t have a jumbo chenille yarn and I didn’t want to struggle with crocheting holding two strands together, too. I’ll struggle crocheting with a single strand, thank you very much. So, off to Michael’s I went on Monday and bought two balls of their Sweet Snuggles yarn in a baby blue and a cream. I wanted a teal blue but they didn’t have a great selection at the store and I didn’t want to try to order and have to wait. I also bought a Prym crochet hook in an 8mm/L.

Yesterday I had a very long meeting via Zoom and decided that it was as good a time as any to give it a try. I started twice (note: frogging chenille yarn is not an easy task!) but got the hang of it and since it’s all single crochet, I do know how to do that. I got the first part, the top, finished during the meeting.

I had planned to complete it today but got busy cleaning up our primary bedroom and bath and then cooking all the veggies that I had bought to roast for my week. I’ve been dragging since the time change and it’s been a struggle to get as much done as I’d like. So, I’ve not gotten a lot of crocheting done today but I did manage to write my store newsletter and print a recipe for a customer friend … now I just have to remember who that was.

I’ll get to it this weekend. The head is next and it can’t take too long – it’s small. And then the bottom of the body. I have to remember to buy some stuffing at work this week so I can stuff it properly. And I need to find the safety eyes. Nothing else will be quite right. Right?

It was a beautiful day at the lake today … it warmed to 50 degrees and the ice is starting to melt. It wasn’t much of a winter and I hope the Browntail Moths don’t thrive with this warmer winter. I will never be able to work in our yard if they’re as bad as they’ve been the last two years. Spring is coming!

Until next time … gone knitting.

In and Out

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning and, as usual, it made the start of the day at 5:45am perfectly fine. Although it felt like noon at 8am when I thought I needed to get moving and get some chores and errands run. Ha! Ha!

I spent the morning writing the store newsletter and getting the weekend plans and reminders together and planning my calendar for next week. I went downstairs for breakfast after 11am and we went out to run some errands around noon time.

I was sent a photo of a crocheted ray by my daughter that she saw on Instagram. We don’t carry the yarn at Yardgoods so today, one of my errands was to go to Michael’s to see if they had any there. I bought two balls of Michael’s Sweet Snuggles a jumbo weight chenille yarn. They had a limited choice of colors in the store but light blue and cream will work. I also bought a L crochet hook … wish me luck. I may be an expert knitter but I’m a mediocre crocheter at best.

Ray … I’ll be attempting this someday soon

I’ve been rolling along on my Stashbuster Shawl. I’m nearing the end of the project and have taken a bit of time to count my stitches and estimate how much yarn I will need for casting off. I typically give myself three times the width of the edge to be cast off. I made a knot there and I’ll knit up to that knot or very close to it and then bind off with my fingers and toes crossed and my legs, too, maybe. When I bought this yarn I thought it was in shades of gray. Turns out that it’s navy blule. It’s all good, I wear a lot of blue and this one is slightly larger than the multi-colored Stashbuster that I knitted a while back. I think it’s going to be a good addition to my shawl collection.

Haven’t made a lot of progress on my daughter’s Christmas socks or the Oorik slip over for my granddaughter. I hope it’ll fit her in the fall but I’d still like to check it off the list. I haven’t touched the Fiddlehead mittens or my pink embroidered mittens but I’ll get to them. I’m enjoying all the knitting that I’m doing so it’s all good.

This afternoon we attempted to install a new digital TV antenna on our roof. The original one hasn’t been working for a while. We got a few channels but none of the ones that we really want from more than 60 miles away so we will return this one and get one with a larger range. For a couple of “old” people we can still crawl in and out of the windows and walk on the roof. My husband has a new hip and it seems to be working well. I’m grateful for that!

Gone knitting.

Don’t Waste a Wednesday

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I slept late this morning. I was up late, if I’m being honest, catching up on the Bachelor episodes that I missed last week. I know, I know …. it’s a guilty pleasure. Anyway, I was up late and missed the sunrise this morning if there was one. Ha! Ha! I know there was one but it wasn’t visible but it was bright at 8 o’clock this morning and there were some patches of fog around the lake. The ice is thinning (we know by the darker gray color of the ice) and it won’t be long until the water is back. We look forward to ice in and ice out. All of the changes on the lake are beautiful in my mind’s eye.

Today was catch up and clean up day at our house. My hubby was outside feeding the birds and cleaning up the yard. I was inside washing laundry and putting everything away from our trip. This afternoon I decided to cast on another Love and Light which I’ll be sending to Colorado. Before we left a friend from high school days reached out to me. She had seen the last Love and Light that I made for my nephew and his bride as a wedding gift and wondered if I’d donate one to her non-profit called 3 Hopeful Hearts, a place that provides grief support for those who have lost a baby or child. How do I NOT send her a little hand-knit light-up heart?

I buy my lights on Amazon (link here). The pattern calls for a 200 light, 66 foot string of fairy lights. I like this set because I have a lot of the little USB plugs around the house that I can plug into. I’ve also bought another brand that comes with a standard electric plug (link here). These are a little bit more expensive and take more room to package up because of the plug, but they’re both good to use for the Love and Light pattern. This package comes with the string of lights and USB plug and a remote control that offers you an option for 8 or so different blinking/fade settings and powers on/off the lights.

I use a US 10 1/2 double pointed needle set even though the pattern calls for a (little) larger needle. I had a 10 1/2 and that works for me. I typically have a little bit of wire/yarn left over from the string which helps when it’s getting plugged in.

The pattern is by Laura Nelkin and is available on Ravelry and on her website. I have knitted her Starry Light pattern and the saw this one and have knitted multiples and in several different colors. They’re fun, take a couple of hours and everyone loves them. I have one hanging in our living room window and we turn it on to send love and light out into the world at night. At least metaphorically.

When you begin knitting, you need to be mindful that wire kinks and the fairy lights will break if you knit too tightly. I try to keep a very light tension on the wire both to keep the wire from breaking and to make it easier to knit with. It’s a good idea to pull several arms lengths from the “spool” of wire at a time and make sure it’s not kinking as you go. Taking the time in advance will make it much less stressful in the end. Also, be sure to plug in the lights to make sure they work before you start knitting. It would be heartbreaking to knit the entire project only to have the lights stay dark!

I cast on as the pattern suggests and follow the pattern and even being mindful of the wire, I have to stop and untwist kinks several times during the knitting. I used to worry about the stitches being imperfect and squinched together but don’t worry. At the end of the knitting you can massage the shape into the perfect heart. The wire is pretty stretchy when knitted and you can really work on getting the heart shaped to your liking. AND don’t forget to plug it in again to make sure the lights still work! (Knock on wood, mine have always been ok despite some aggressive “blocking”!)

The end result is so pretty and makes me smile every single time. I’ll get these packed up and sent out later this week. Literally sending Love and Light out into the world!

Gone knitting.

Family Time

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

My nephew got married on Friday in Lafayette, Louisiana to an absolutely adorable, smart, organized, lovely and loving woman. We are all thrilled for the newlyweds and their boys. It was a wonderful event. I took NO photographs. My phone remained in my purse and I was thoroughly present with my family.

Some of the highlights were seeing the great-nephews who have really grown up since they were last at our house and a sisters trip to the beauty parlor to have our hair and makeup done for the wedding. Let me repeat that we didn’t take any photos of us in our makeup (and three of us washed it off as soon as we got home, haha!) The rehearsal dinner was a lot of fun and we got to meet lots of the Louisiana people whose names we’ve heard for over a decade. The wedding was one of the prettiest I’ve attended and my great-nephew read his vows to his dad and new mom – there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. All of the siblings and their “spice” had dinner together at my brother and sister’s (adoptive) mom’s favorite restaurant on Saturday night and that was special. I wish I’d known her but I’m so grateful that she provided a loving home for my brother. And I know both Betsy and my mother are celebrating that we found each other.

We headed into the New Orleans on Sunday for the night before our flight out. If you’ve ever gotten stuck on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, you’ll know why. We returned our rental car and took an Uber into the French Quarter for a quick walk around. We stopped at the historic Pat O’Brien’s for a Hurricane and then out onto the streets to have a quick visit. We traveled back to the hotel to change for dinner at Commander’s Palace. We had the most enjoyable experience there. The food was incredibly delicious and the service was impeccable. What a way to end a fantastic trip to Louisiana.

Our flights were uneventful, the weather was cool for Louisiana but the sun came out ever so briefly for the wedding ceremony and I am so grateful that we were able to take the time off to make the trip. There’s nothing better than hugging my family. None of us is as young and healthy as we were 15 years ago and I’ll always try to make the time so we can spend time together. How lucky I am to have such wonderful family.

I hardly knitted at all. More on that later. I just wanted to take the time to write about our visit before too much time passes. We leave feeling lots of love with hearts full.

Gone knitting. This time I mean it … my knitting chair awaits.

Hermione’s Everyday Socks and a Full Moon

Posted on February 26, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m hoping that now that the full moon has passed that I can sleep a little better and a little longer. Living close to the land, we seem to go to bed and wake up with the sun. We don’t have a lot of curtains and blinds and those that we do have aren’t usually closed. So … the sunrise is at around 6:30am and we are almost always up before that. The moon last night and tonight was absolutely gorgeous, though.

I have another FO! I finished my Hermione’s Everyday Socks tonight. I stayed up late (it’s after 9pm, all!) I loved this pattern. I loved knitting a different sock pattern (but I do still adore the Yankee Knitter pattern) and I loved knitting a different heel pattern. I did make a little mistake on the first heel – I lost my rhythm for a few rows but I let it go – but the second sock has a perfect heel. I think I’m going to have to wear these socks tomorrow and see how my feet like the texture of the socks.

The first picture is the textured leg. This is a simple four round pattern that you can memorize without any issues. I promise. The heel is a slip stitch heel but the slipped stitches aren’t stacked and so there’s some extra thickness where you need it BUT it’s not as visible as the more traditional slip stitch heel flap.

A year or so ago, I realized that I had filled my sock drawer with hand knit socks. But most of my socks were patterned and there were no plain ones. (Ha! Ha! Plain! There’s nothing plain about even a solid color pair of hand knit socks.) I have now made three pairs of solid color socks for myself and two of them are in this yarn. I really like the CoopKnits Sock Yeah! yarn. It’s a 75/35 merino/nylon blend in a fingering weight. I bought this yarn in a collection when I invested in learning more about knitting with A Year of Techniques. I’ve written about it here before. It was a great investment and I loved trying yarns that I wouldn’t have easy access to here in Maine. Since the yarns all came from the UK, they were different than most that we have at MY LYS.

These socks will be a good addition to my sock drawer and I hope that I love them as much as I love the vanilla socks that I made in the light gray colorway. I’m going to cast on another pair of socks tomorrow to take with us on our travels to my nephew’s wedding this week. They’re so easy to travel with. I just have to decide which pattern I am going to try. Maybe the Crazy Sock Lady’s pattern? Not sure which one … yet!

It’s late so I’m signing off but no more knitting tonight!

Afternoon Quickie

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a beautiful but cold day today in Maine. I took off this morning to North Whitefield to have a look at some SL sheepskins that I’ve been wondering about for a while now. I really want one for my desk chair and/or my knitting chair. It just so happened that they were having a special sale and I could save $10 if I picked it up. So, today I drove over to Swallowtail Farm and I can’t wait to go back. I have a gorgeous creamy white XL sheepskin and ran a couple of errands and then came home to knit.

I’ve been watching some new podcasts lately and I knew that I had to knit up a gift for my nephew and his soon-to-be wife. I’ve bought the supplies and they’ve been sitting in my atelier for several months now. It’s a sweet pattern and I love to give it as gifts. I think they’ll appreciate it.

I sat down at my desk and cast on the first “lobe” of the heart at around 3pm. The heart pattern is called “Love and Light” by Laura Nelkin. I chose to knit the larger one which requires a 200 light/ 66 foot strand of fairy lights. I bought mine here. If you want to try this, buy more than one set of lights because it’s addictive. I think I’ve knit half a dozen or more. They also look wonderful in colors, too. We have one hanging in our living room window and it’s a beacon of light in the evenings after the sun goes down. They make me extremely happy.

The pictures above show you the progress from 3pm until the heart was finished and “massaged” into it’s final shape. One more plug-in to make sure I didn’t break the connections as I was knitting and I was done. It was 4:00pm. That’s right, it took an hour and a half of my time to make even though it’s tough on my hands, it’s totally worth it. I love the way these turn out!

Leftovers tonight for dinner and the bread I baked yesterday is perfect yet again. This bread baking gig is pretty cool and the house smells so good when I bake bread! What a glorious life!

Gone knitting.

Free Fishing Weekend

Posted on February 17, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Today is the start of Maine’s Free Fishing weekend apparently. Our lake is covered in people ice fishing. There’s one group that was out in front of our boat house last night when I got home from work and they were back at 5:45 this morning. Typically, I’d welcome people to enjoy our lake but this morning I was upset at being awakened by their noisy vehicles and augers so early. The lake is nearly 2 miles wide where we are and 7-ish miles long … dontcha think you could find a special spot that isn’t right smack dab in my front yard? They’ve got traps, at least a dozen, on the ice in front of our house when the next mile plus of shoreline is occupied by summer-only residents.

But I haven’t come here to gripe (much) and I wanted to share with you a couple of knitting projects that I’m enjoying today – and share a yarn shop story, too.

I’m half-way through the Hermione’s Everyday Socks that I’m knitting. I am loving this pattern and can’t believe it’s taken me so long to try something new. It truly has been a while that I’ve been stuck in a rut of knitting my favorite sock pattern, Yankee Knitter’s Classic Sock #29. BUT this one was pointed out to me by my friend/co-worker/knitting conspirator friend, Glenda. She was wearing a pair with her Nancy’s vest a week ago and I thought I’d give it a try. Just so happens I had finished a pair of socks and needed to cast on another. (Needed. See that?!) Anywho … I love the Hermione’s sock and will wind and cast on the second sock today.

Meanwhile, my other friend/co-worker/knitting conspirator, Carol, showed me a pattern on Thursday that she was going to try and I couldn’t resist. The pattern is called Luggage Finders and it’s a free pattern on Ravelry by Skacel. Designed by Kathy Sasser, this is a collection of four little tags that you can add to your suitcase to make it more easy to identify when you’re traveling. I’m traveling later this month and I can’t wait to put my Maine Lobstah yarn name tag on my suitcase.

These two women get me into so much trouble! I really should be finishing older projects from their spots in time out but instead I’m casting on new projects, too. Ha! Ha! The rest will wait a day or two while I play, right? (Kind of like the dust in my house.)

Some of my Friday afternoon class is knitting a Maine Mitten project in class to try something new. They’re using the pattern that we all got from the Maine Yarn Cruise this past year from Jagger Spun, the Original Maine Flag Mittens. I had knitted a pair and gifted them in our Christmas Yankee Swap and that started a family squabble and quite a competition. So, I suggested we try a KAL with the pattern. It’s a fun pattern for a basic mitten and a charted duplicate stitch pattern to add the original Maine flag pine tree and star.

I have several items that I’ve knitted and worn once or not at all (these were one of them) and I really need to send them all off to good homes where they’ll be appreciated. I’m going to get some photos and put them out there with a price on Facebook, I guess, and see what happens. I sold one pair of Malabrigo Rasta mittens to a sweet friend in Ohio. That feels good. I just need to take the time. BUT for now, I’m going to get dressed, throw in a load of laundry and mix up some bread dough so I can bake tomorrow. The hubby and I are heading to town to see the new exhibits at Colby’s Art Museum and maybe we’ll stop somewhere for a bite to eat after that.

Gone knitting … well, you know what I mean. Thanks for being here, friends.

Favorite Pullover For Women

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I was up early this morning and wanted to be sure to write a post about having finished my Norwegian pullover. Did you read that? Read it again, please. I am finished with my Norwegian pullover! It’s been nearly a year since I cast on but I have finally finished it … and it fits! I wore it yesterday despite the fact that it was still a little bit damp in the colorwork areas.

I started on this journey by taking a class with Knitography Farm. The first class turned into a couple more classes and culminated in knitting this sweater. I had to purchase the book Norwegian Knitting Designs 90 Years Later on Amazon to get the pattern as it appears it’s nowhere else. This book is a coffee table book of traditional Norwegian knitwear designs. The original book is in a pocket at the back of my book. (Since I have some leftover yarn, I’ll likely find another small project to knit up with the yarn.) I loved the Favorite Pullover for Women immediately and knew this was the “genser” I wanted to make.

I ordered the yarn from Patricia at the farm. It is a Norwegian wool, Ask Norsk ullgarn, and it’s a bit sticky but squishy, too. Perfect for colorwork. The yarn is a sport weight that looks like fingering, frankly. I purchased 5 hanks of the main colorway and one each of the remaining colors. I chose to make it in the traditional colors as shown in the purple colorway in the middle of the photo above. I didn’t love the yellow color and have a sweater’s worth of a brick red-ish color but had nothing in purple which helped me make the choice. (I have one hank of the main color leftover and quite a bit of the darker grays, just a little of the light gray.)

Knitting the yoke was the most fun, of course! Once the sleeves were divided, the stockinette stitch down the body and sleeves was tedious at best. It had been set aside for my Arne & Carlos Advent Mini Jumpers, and a 1-year-old’s bikini and a mermaid tail and sea shell top, among others but I brought it with us when we went to the beach in September and worked away in bits and pieces when I found a few minutes. I got most of the first sleeve finished in early October and then hit a “snag” because I had a wrong number of stitches for a colorwork pattern with an 8-stitch repeat. While I pondered the predicament, I knit a couple of pairs of Christmas socks, designed and knit a 1-year-old’s Christmas sweater and hat, and I may have started knitting a pair of pink mittens among others (again! See the theme developing here? Hit a snag, cast on another new project.)

I chewed on the adjustments that I needed to make for quite a while, consulted a few knitting friends and then I knit, re-knit and re-knit again the first sleeve to get the decreases spread down the sleeve correctly and so I had 64 stitches at just the right spot to start the colorwork at the bottom of the sleeve. I knit the second sleeve first with the same adjustments and when they were both the same length with the same number of stitches, I tried it on to make sure the sleeves would be the right length and knitted the colorwork and ribbing. Success sure felt good when it had all worked and I could move forward again.

The colorwork at the cuff was very simple and quick as was the ribbing and before I knew it, I had a finished sweater. Finally! I blocked it Monday night and wore it yesterday … it fits! I’m delighted.

Favorite Pullover For Women blocking Sunday night 2/12/24

Gone knitting.

What a Week!

Posted on February 11, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m sitting at my desk having finished my newsletter for the store and adding the subscribers to the list. I don’t love “working” on Sunday. I like to keep it set aside as a day for me but some weeks this just doesn’t happen. This was one of those weeks.

We drove back from New York City on Monday after a fun but disappointing visit. We had gone down to meet a little dog at the Humane Society that we’ve been approved to adopt. She’s a 4 year-old shitzu, bichon and maybe a bit of poodle thrown in mix. I fully expected to bring her home with us but got a call on Sunday night with a health update that triggered me as my Boq died with the same two “issues”. I ended up cancelling my meeting and we came home requesting more time for me to think about whether we want to adopt a young dog with potential health issues that might require a special diet and/or medication. I’m so grateful for the understanding and caring response from the Humane Society. We’re now on hold until we get back from a family wedding in a few weeks and we’ll see if the medical issues have resolved and decide about next steps. This is a great and very thorough place that really wants adoptions to succeed and so do we. I know I’ll fall in love with her if I see her so I’m trying to step back from the emotion and take care of myself first in this instance. After 40+ years of taking care of everybody else first, I’m really trying to listen to myself and leave space for me to practice self-care first. I was proud that I could speak my truth and name my concerns and ask for some more time. I was rewarded with a wonderful conversation and a mutual understanding. Bravo, me!

Monday evening I was dropped off at Maine Arts Academy in Augusta to attend a board meeting. It was a great meeting and I’m so proud of our school and proud to be associated with it, too. We had a student visit to update us on her life today after we granted her an early graduation last year. She’s an incredible young woman who will do great things and it was so thoughtful that she wanted to thank us and update us on her life.

The next couple of days I got all the house and home stuff caught up so that I could work at the end of the week. I baked some bread and some hermits (read about it here) and it’s been fun to share the cookies at work with my wonderful co-worker friends. I am so fortunate to work with some excellent, creative, smart women! I’ve been at the store working and teaching for the last three days and today is (finally) a day for me to catch up … again. Ha! Ha!

Photo by Melissa Blackall Photography – “Of This Place”

Friday night we went to Colby College to see the performance of “Of This Place” in the new Gordon Center. The new theater space is amazing and I really enjoyed the performance. My only criticism is that they’ve not completed the sound system and it was difficult to hear some parts of the spoken words. I loved that it was a multi-generational collaborative performance that included kids from a Waterville elementary school, staff and alumni, students from Colby and Maine Arts Academy, and professional dancers, too. I’m not a dancer and don’t pretend to be but I do like to watch dance and admire people who can dance.

All of this to say that I haven’t gotten a lot of knitting done this week. When I was teaching class on Friday morning I realized that I didn’t have some of the stuff I needed to knit, other projects needed more attention than I could give at that time and place. What’s a knitter to do? I have worked a little bit on the second sleeve of my Norwegian sweater and I’m up to the heel of my Hermione’s Everyday sock. My friend Glenda and I are going to do another self-imposed KAL and we’ve picked Christopher’s Bunny by Susan B. Anderson to be our project. I may choose to cast on today … although, I’d love to finish the sleeves of my sweater. I’m so close that I’m not sure why I’m continuing to put it off. I NEED to do our laundry because I have one pair of underwear left in my bureau. Ha! Ha! I SHOULD vacuum and wet mop the upstairs because my allergies are showing their ugly heads … between the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow, I’m afraid it’s going to be a really bad year for allergies. Our road is already thinking it’s mud season and I was white-knuckling the drive home last night as my car was sucked into the muddy ruts.

Enough “griping” … I’m off to attack this beauty of a day. Wish me luck.

Gone knitting … I think.